Image
Comics has announced the January publication of ZED: A COSMIC TALE from
multi-media artist, Michel Gagné (THE SAGA OF REX). ZED, a cute, silly,
yet epic science-fiction series, was self-published over a period of
eleven years starting in 2001. The new collection of the series features
art and writing that has been revised and reworked by Gagné.

"I
fell in love with comics at an early age, and recall wanting to be a
comic artist as one of my first childhood dreams", said Gagné. "I later
became interested in animation and special effects and pursued a career
in that field. Despite this new passion, I never wavered in my love of
comics and ultimately couldn't shake the festering desire to create my
own series. In early 2001, after finishing up a demanding job as Head of
Special Effects at Warner Brothers Feature Animation, I took time off
to make that dream come true. This is how ZED was born."

The
first issue of ZED was self-published in July 2001 and the series
concluded with issue 10, published in January 2012. Unfolding over the
issues is the story of a cute young alien whose invention makes him the
target of a galactic villain. Facing seemingly insurmountable odds, Zed
must find the courage to save his home world from destruction.

Doing
a comic series after hours, single-handedly, proved to be a more
difficult task than Gagné first anticipated. "I planned to tell my tale
over a period of ten issues and felt pretty confident, at the time, that
I could have the whole thing wrapped up and published within a couple
of years," said Gagné. "Little did I know that it would take me eleven
years to finally bring the series to fruition. ZED is, first and
foremost, a labor of love which I created at my own pace. The comic
series became a way for me to build my graphic novel."

ZED
reflects Gagné's deep love for golden age science fiction and oddball
cartooning. It is influenced by his favorite books and movies, as well
as political news, rock concerts and things he has experienced and
witnessed throughout his life. With the series wrapped up, Gagné
combined all ten issues into a single graphic novel that reads as one
uninterrupted story. Because of the time span it took to get the series
done, Gagné felt that the writing and art style needed a second pass to
make them more consistent.

"The disparity from one issue to the
next was less visible when separated into individual comic books, but
all strung together in graphic novel form, the inconsistencies became
painfully obvious", said Gagné. "When putting the final book together, I
didn't treat it as a straight reprint book. I spend several months
reworking the art and writing to make it more cohesive. I consider ZED: A
Cosmic Tale published by Image Comics to be the definitive version of
the story."

ZED: A COSMIC TALE is a 280-page paperback. It will
be in stores on January 30, 2013 and is available for pre-order now from
the December issue of Previews.